U.N. official: Close Guantanamo

Apr. 5, 2013
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This image reviewed by the US military shows the guard tower at the entrance to "Camp Five" and "Camp Six" detention facilities of the Joint Detention Group at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on January 19, 2012. / Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images

by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

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GENEVA (AP) - The United Nations' top human rights official is pressing the U.S. to close the Guantanamo Bay prison.

President Barack Obama pledged to shutter the prison soon after taking office but Congress opposed it, passing a law that prohibits the government from transferring Guantanamo prisoners to U.S. soil and requiring security guarantees before they can be sent elsewhere.

Pillay, who has long urged Guantanamo's closure, said in a statement: "The continuing indefinite incarceration of many of the detainees amounts to arbitrary detention and is in clear breach of international law."

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